Toyota Motor Chairman Akio Toyoda headlined this year’s inductees to the Automotive Hall of Fame.

The Dearborn, Mich.-based organization honored eight industry leaders at its annual induction ceremony. In addition to Toyoda, they are:

• The four founders of the Dutch location technology creator TomTom: Harold Goddijn, Corinne Vigreux, Peter Frans Pauwels and Pieter Geelen
• Tom Barrett and Russ Jackson, founders of Arizona-based collector car auction company Barrett-Jackson
• Giampaolo Dallara, founder of Italian race car maker Dallara Automobili

The hall of fame has now inducted more than 320 auto industry standouts since its 1939 founding. It honors people who’ve made lasting impacts on the sector.

Toyoda, who served as the Japanese automaker’s president from 2009 to 2023, when he took the chairmanship, is the grandson of the company’s founder.

The hall of fame pointed out his leadership during the 2007-09 recession and Toyota’s subsequent recall crisis.

“Toyoda personally testified before the U.S. Congress in 2010, taking public accountability and helping stabilize Toyota’s global reputation. His tenure is widely recognized as a period of restored trust, strengthened governance, and renewed corporate discipline.”

Toyota today is the world’s top automaker by sales volume and often leads vehicle longevity and other quality and consumer loyalty rankings.

The hall of fame said Toyoda refocused the company’s culture on passion for driving and performance. It also pointed out his advocacy for a multipronged electrification approach in contrast to many competitors’ temporary plans for all-electric lineups by the 2030s.

Toyoda’s electrification strategy proved prescient, as consumer EV demand failed to meet automakers’ expectations and U.S. and Canadian EV adoption incentives were eliminated. Hybrids, long a strong spot for the automaker, are now a red-hot segment amid high gas prices.

The hall of fame also pointed out Toyoda's innovative emphasis, including investment in hydrogen technology that it said make him "one of the most influential global OEM leaders of the past decade."

He said in his acceptance speech, “Together there is nothing we can’t imagine, nothing we can’t create, and nothing we can’t overcome,”